Arvind Kejriwal to visit trouble-hit Punjab tomorrow

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit Kotkapura in Punjab's Faridkot district tomorrow, which has been the nerve centre of protests over recent incidents of sacrilege and police firing in the state.

Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who is in-charge of the party's Punjab affairs, said apart from meeting families of people dead in the violence, Kejriwal will also pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of Sikh religion.

Kejriwal's visit assumes significance as AAP is eyeing the 2017 Assembly polls in the state and has re-structured its unit there. The state gave four MPs to the party in the Loksabha elections, of which two were recently suspended for 'anti-party' activities.

"Tomorrow Arvind Kejriwal will visit Shri Harmandir Sahib, and later Kotkapura, to meet families of people died in violence," Durgesh Pathak, AAP's Punjab Co-Convener, said. After being on the boil for about a week over sacrilege incidents and police firing, Punjab was peaceful yesterday even though some places witnessed tension and para military forces conducted flag marches in various parts of the state.

AAP's Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and urged him to ensure peace in the state. Mann conveyed Singh that the situation in Punjab was 'very disturbing' in the wake of recent untoward incidents.

Ten companies of paramilitary forces and Punjab police personnel are keeping a tight vigil in the wake of protests by sikh organisations, including hardliners in parts of the state, including Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Fardikot, police said.

Sikh organizations, not satisfied with the government's measures, announced setting up of a 'Peoples Commission' to probe sacrilege incidents, police firing in Faridkot's Behbal Kalan village where two people were killed and alleged police excesses on Sikhs in the state.